 |
|
"Dumb idea"? Mark
Dawe slammed for his suggestion
|
The head of a major exam board has been criticized for
suggesting pupils should be allowed to use Google when sitting some GCSE and
A-level tests.
Oxford and Cambridge RSA
(OCR) chief executive Mark Dawe believes introducing a search engine tool for
certain papers would help teachers assess how students apply information they
have gathered.
But Chris McGovern,
chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, said the idea would lead to a
"dumbing down of standards".
He told BBC Radio 4's
Today programme: "It's a nonsense.
Press Association reports:
"We have a crisis in
standards in this country. We are three years behind the Chinese at the age of
15, we have got universities running remedial courses.
"We have got
employers saying too many youngsters are unemployable.
"And here we have
the OCR board saying 'let's dumb things down'.
"You can have an
exam on how to use Google, but that is not the same as having a history or
geography exam.
"Exams should be
about knowledge and understanding. It includes knowledge, therefore we do have
to test what children are carrying the in their heads."
It would damage the
board's credibility, he insisted, because "sensible people" want
their children to take proper exams.
Mr Dawe told the programme
that the arguments were the same used in relation to allowing calculators in
maths exams.
He added: "You do
need to have a base understanding of things.
"Actually, one of
the most important things is about understanding what comes up on Google or
some search engine.
"It is about
understanding the tools they have got available and how to utilise those.
"I think that is a
very rich way of learning and a very rich way of assessing. That is relevant,
that is what they will be doing in working life."
He said Google could be
allowed on some papers but not others, depending on the type of questions being
asked.
"You ask different
questions and it is about interpretation," he added. "It's about
discussion, it is about application."
He said he could not see
Google coming in any time soon but suggested it was "certainly
inevitable" longer term.
No comments:
Post a Comment